Last week I was at my mom’s house when I happened to see a scrapbook album that I made for her almost seven years ago. I made several of these scrapbooks that contained photos from my daughter Kara’s first year. I did not make one for myself and I had forgotten all about “the many faces of Kara” scrapbook. The memories flooded back as I flipped through the pages. How could I have forgotten that I made this?

I want to share the album with you and hopefully inspire you to create a similar one. First I have to say that my philosophy is to keep the layouts simple so the photos shine. You will see in the following pages that the paper selection can make all the difference and that a few embellishments can complete the layout.

I do not remember who manufactured the chipboard album and there were no markings on it to indicate the manufacturer. The album stands up on its own and has plastic  sleeves to add layouts. I created the cover using my Cricut and the Opposites Attract font cartridge. The pages inside are in order from when Kara was first born to just before her first birthday. This first layout uses a photo of Kara in the hospital. I matted the photo and added a little ribbon to one side.

Kara was used to a being my photo subject at a young age. I put her in her little chair and took pictures of her every week on Tuesday because she was born on a Tuesday. This simple grid layout is a result of one of those photo sessions.

This photo of Kara under the blanket is probably one of my most favorite from when she was a baby. I tried to recreate the soft textures in the photo by tearing the paper mat and adding the yellow fibers to the layout.

Kara didn’t start liking tummy time until she could roll over both ways. After that it was always a party on her tummy time mat. I pulled the bug theme from her playmat and added just a few playful stickers to ground the photo.

Kara loved her little baby pool. I layered the photo on top of paper strips and then added some water fun stickers.

Meal time was always a messy adventure! I couldn’t find any baby food related embellishments so I cut out baby food containers from patterned paper to match what Kara was eating in each photo.

My friend let me borrow this lion costume and I took pictures of Kara in the backyard on a blanket. I used patterned paper that looked like burlap for the background. I cut the green paper to resemble grass and inked the brown paper to give it a more rugged look. The “roar” is printed on vellum and then cut out.

Kara had reddish hair when she was a baby so we had her be Pebbles Flintstone for Halloween. She was super adorable! All I needed for this layout was the animal print paper and a ripped mat for her photo.

The photo of Kara in this next layout is another one of my favorites from her first year!

I made these scrapbooks as Christmas gifts. Kara’s birthday is in January. I intended to create a layout of her smashing her birthday cake to complete this scrapbook but guess what? I never did it! I had to laugh out loud when I saw the final page in the album.

My mom says she wonders if she will ever get that last page! Seven years after I created it, I am overjoyed that I can flip through this album and re-live my first year as a mom.

This baby’s first year simple scrapbook proves that scrapbooks don’t have to be complex or involved to be meaningful.